NOTE:
BotF~Blood of the Fallen
CH~Colin Holman
CH~Colin Holman
SM~Stephen Miskie (Drums)
CB~Chris Black (guitars)
J~ Jimere (vocals)
Interview:
EE: How do the guys prepare for a live show?
BotF: As a band we like to get rid of those pre-show jitters with a shot of alcohol. Everyone in the band has a personal thing to do to get ready for a show.
CH: I personally get really hyper and can't calm my nerves. I jump around a lot and smoke A LOT!
SM: I'm always anxious to get up on stage! I usually have a beer with Colin lol. At this point I'm kind of over the stage fright thing I mean I still get a bit nervous but its nothing over the top!
CB: I watch Disturbed play live a lot on youtube beforehand, I also smoke a lot and I also run through the songs mentally (air guitar) to get a feel for the notes. I freak my GF out because I get into a very zen state and look pissed off when really I'm just focused.
J: Preparing for a show definitely includes many liquids if not all of my favourites including; Aloe vera, water, & tea. I also need to do various warm ups that day, but usually I spend little spurts of time during the day doing a different exercise in case I don't get around to a proper warm up. I usually have to listen to some pump up music which varies based on what kind of day I'm having. Right now it's "Watch yourself" by Ministry.
EE: What are the feelings geared toward the upcoming live performances?
BotF: We all get nervous but excited at the same time. Excited to get on, play music and have a good time.
EE: How have the setlists varied for the shows? Which one has worked best?
BotF: We've worked it around a little bit simply because Jimere is able to warm up his voice better on certain songs, obviously making the harder ones, easier for him to sing so the setlist we have right now is pretty solid. The show at The Mod Club our setlist was as follow:
Deep Waters
Chaos
Underneath
Open the Sky
Chasing Your Voice
EE: What has been different between shows? Lights? Crowd size? Crowd reactions? Which has been the best for BOTF?
BotF: We liked the Mod Club for the venue size and lighting but, we like Hard Rock Cafe for the sound. At this point the best show we had was our show at the Hard Rock Cafe June 1st because we had a great turnout and we played with a lot of good bands that night. Not to mention we got paid for it and we won the opportunity to have a free live music video shot for us.
EE: Describe the past live show visually and musically. What was the best part? What can be improved?
BotF: The Mod Club was a great venue to play at. The venue where Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and Nickleback played at! The only upsetting thing that happened to us was we didn't get a sound check and we didn't have a sound guy during our set. Visually it was awesome! It was the first time we got to play with a huge amount of stage lights and fog machines. Overall, even without a sound guy the sound wasn't terrible, just some of the levels were a bit off. Having a big stage gave us more of an opportunity to move around. We are looking into getting wireless systems so we can be cord free which will make moving around much easier!
EE: Why should people come out to see you live?
BotF: Because we are obsessive about our live sound, we are always doing everything possible to improve ourselves and we absolutely love bigger crowds. It's an energy exchange and our songs are easy to follow and great for crowd interaction.
EE: What can we expect from the professional live music video? Has filming already begun?
BotF: At this point we don't even know how it will turn out! We decided to do the music video at our show September 8th at the Opera House.
EE: Dream Large! If everything worked out perfectly, where would you tour? (the world is yours!) If you could tour with any artist, with whom would you tour with?
BotF: That's a good question! I think each band member would want to tour somewhere different!
CH: I want to do a massive European Tour! Also Australia because I always wanted to go there. The top 4 bands I want to tour with are Avenged Sevenfold, Evanescence, Adrenaline Mob, and Stone Sour.
SM: Truthfully it doesn't matter to me where we tour. I just want to be able to play for as many people as we can and spread our music around. :) I'm up for going anywhere!
CB: I would love to tour Japan and Europe. My ultimate goal would be to play Rock Am Ring or the Download festival. And I would absolutely love to Tour with Disturbed or Sevendust. Any band would be a trip because there are so many good ones out there.
J: This is hard because I've never really been anywhere. I think I'd like to play somewhere where I can instil hope and a connection with people who are less fortunate & who respect our music. I'd love to play with/ for my favourite artists one day but I think I'd enjoy playing with other musicians that are on our level. There's so much good music out there that hasn't been discovered yet. I'd love to play with Decades (Or at least Max Vernon), Isonic, The Artful Vandelays, Porpoise, Ninique Royer etc. However I think Touring with Tori Amos would probably be a very life changing experience.
EE: What songs are being played in your iTunes? (Two from each guy and two for BOTF as a group).
BotF: "Open the Sky" - Blood of the Fallen and "Chasing Your Voice" - Blood of the Fallen lol
CH: “The Ministry of Lost Souls” - Dream Theatre and “Say You'll Haunt Me” - Stone Sour
SM: "Follow the signs" - Born of Osiris and "Hourglass" - Lamb of God
CB: "Perfect Insanity" - Disturbed (Indestructible) and "Lean" - Dark New Day.
J: "Miracles" - Dave Gahan and "No Way" - The Naked & famous
EE: What is BOTF's opinion on the current recording industry? If you could change something about it, what would you change?
BotF: We have only been involved with one producer so far in our career and the only issue that we have so far is the turn around time. We have nothing to compare it to so we can't really complain but we feel that it would be different with each producer. As for the whole recording industry deal we feel that the major studios are slowly dying because of all the home studios that are popping up. Home studios are great for bands that are starting out because they give us the opportunity to get decent recording for a fraction of the cost.
EE: What are the hardest obstacles for the band?
BotF: Dealing with Colin's bullshit! no we're kidding we love him!
We would have to say the hardest obstacle that we have been deeling with so far is money. Not that we're poor lol but with the money that we put out for recording our ep and the gas for going back and forth to shows it leaves us pretty short to buy extra things such as merch.
***A huge thank you to the guys for taking special time aside to complete this interview!
BotF: As a band we like to get rid of those pre-show jitters with a shot of alcohol. Everyone in the band has a personal thing to do to get ready for a show.
CH: I personally get really hyper and can't calm my nerves. I jump around a lot and smoke A LOT!
SM: I'm always anxious to get up on stage! I usually have a beer with Colin lol. At this point I'm kind of over the stage fright thing I mean I still get a bit nervous but its nothing over the top!
CB: I watch Disturbed play live a lot on youtube beforehand, I also smoke a lot and I also run through the songs mentally (air guitar) to get a feel for the notes. I freak my GF out because I get into a very zen state and look pissed off when really I'm just focused.
J: Preparing for a show definitely includes many liquids if not all of my favourites including; Aloe vera, water, & tea. I also need to do various warm ups that day, but usually I spend little spurts of time during the day doing a different exercise in case I don't get around to a proper warm up. I usually have to listen to some pump up music which varies based on what kind of day I'm having. Right now it's "Watch yourself" by Ministry.
EE: What are the feelings geared toward the upcoming live performances?
BotF: We all get nervous but excited at the same time. Excited to get on, play music and have a good time.
EE: How have the setlists varied for the shows? Which one has worked best?
BotF: We've worked it around a little bit simply because Jimere is able to warm up his voice better on certain songs, obviously making the harder ones, easier for him to sing so the setlist we have right now is pretty solid. The show at The Mod Club our setlist was as follow:
Deep Waters
Chaos
Underneath
Open the Sky
Chasing Your Voice
EE: What has been different between shows? Lights? Crowd size? Crowd reactions? Which has been the best for BOTF?
BotF: We liked the Mod Club for the venue size and lighting but, we like Hard Rock Cafe for the sound. At this point the best show we had was our show at the Hard Rock Cafe June 1st because we had a great turnout and we played with a lot of good bands that night. Not to mention we got paid for it and we won the opportunity to have a free live music video shot for us.
EE: Describe the past live show visually and musically. What was the best part? What can be improved?
BotF: The Mod Club was a great venue to play at. The venue where Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and Nickleback played at! The only upsetting thing that happened to us was we didn't get a sound check and we didn't have a sound guy during our set. Visually it was awesome! It was the first time we got to play with a huge amount of stage lights and fog machines. Overall, even without a sound guy the sound wasn't terrible, just some of the levels were a bit off. Having a big stage gave us more of an opportunity to move around. We are looking into getting wireless systems so we can be cord free which will make moving around much easier!
EE: Why should people come out to see you live?
BotF: Because we are obsessive about our live sound, we are always doing everything possible to improve ourselves and we absolutely love bigger crowds. It's an energy exchange and our songs are easy to follow and great for crowd interaction.
EE: What can we expect from the professional live music video? Has filming already begun?
BotF: At this point we don't even know how it will turn out! We decided to do the music video at our show September 8th at the Opera House.
EE: Dream Large! If everything worked out perfectly, where would you tour? (the world is yours!) If you could tour with any artist, with whom would you tour with?
BotF: That's a good question! I think each band member would want to tour somewhere different!
CH: I want to do a massive European Tour! Also Australia because I always wanted to go there. The top 4 bands I want to tour with are Avenged Sevenfold, Evanescence, Adrenaline Mob, and Stone Sour.
SM: Truthfully it doesn't matter to me where we tour. I just want to be able to play for as many people as we can and spread our music around. :) I'm up for going anywhere!
CB: I would love to tour Japan and Europe. My ultimate goal would be to play Rock Am Ring or the Download festival. And I would absolutely love to Tour with Disturbed or Sevendust. Any band would be a trip because there are so many good ones out there.
J: This is hard because I've never really been anywhere. I think I'd like to play somewhere where I can instil hope and a connection with people who are less fortunate & who respect our music. I'd love to play with/ for my favourite artists one day but I think I'd enjoy playing with other musicians that are on our level. There's so much good music out there that hasn't been discovered yet. I'd love to play with Decades (Or at least Max Vernon), Isonic, The Artful Vandelays, Porpoise, Ninique Royer etc. However I think Touring with Tori Amos would probably be a very life changing experience.
EE: What songs are being played in your iTunes? (Two from each guy and two for BOTF as a group).
BotF: "Open the Sky" - Blood of the Fallen and "Chasing Your Voice" - Blood of the Fallen lol
CH: “The Ministry of Lost Souls” - Dream Theatre and “Say You'll Haunt Me” - Stone Sour
SM: "Follow the signs" - Born of Osiris and "Hourglass" - Lamb of God
CB: "Perfect Insanity" - Disturbed (Indestructible) and "Lean" - Dark New Day.
J: "Miracles" - Dave Gahan and "No Way" - The Naked & famous
EE: What is BOTF's opinion on the current recording industry? If you could change something about it, what would you change?
BotF: We have only been involved with one producer so far in our career and the only issue that we have so far is the turn around time. We have nothing to compare it to so we can't really complain but we feel that it would be different with each producer. As for the whole recording industry deal we feel that the major studios are slowly dying because of all the home studios that are popping up. Home studios are great for bands that are starting out because they give us the opportunity to get decent recording for a fraction of the cost.
EE: What are the hardest obstacles for the band?
BotF: Dealing with Colin's bullshit! no we're kidding we love him!
We would have to say the hardest obstacle that we have been deeling with so far is money. Not that we're poor lol but with the money that we put out for recording our ep and the gas for going back and forth to shows it leaves us pretty short to buy extra things such as merch.
***A huge thank you to the guys for taking special time aside to complete this interview!
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